


The Witness

by Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492



Series: Access Animus...Begin Regression [4]
Category: Assassin's Creed (2016) - Fandom, Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Descendants of Assassins, Descendants of Templars, Gen, Genetic Reincarnation, Human Experimentation, The Abstergo Foundation, You see someone in Abstergo has an ounce of guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 12:24:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11290680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492/pseuds/Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492
Summary: There is a reason that McGowen admires the Assassins; to witness a regression, to witness someone reliving their past life of their ancestor. It changes you. Even more so when you capture them.





	The Witness

_Do you know how Assassins came to be named?_

_From an Arabic word: Hashashin._

_They were society's outcast...those who stole...who murdered in cold blood._

_People ridiculed them. Rebels, fools, drug addicts._

_But they were wise._

_They used this reputation to hide a dedication to principles beyond those of even their strongest enemies._

_And for that...I admire them._

_Now show me...are you one of those men?_

* * *

There had never been a time that he had questioned Abstergo or the methods of the Rikkins. 

 

Human test subjects-experimentation upon ones own species with given consent. It rather goes against the glass covering that Sophia enjoys wearing; were her projects are filled with progress in hopes for peace. A crusade spoken with articular fluency to draw in money in hopes for a break through.

 

It is morally questionable, even as the Head of Security, but he keeps his mouth shut.

 

Sophia identifies him as a stoic man so he stays that way.

 

_Perhaps it is best if she knows nothing of him, but believes otherwise._

* * *

Subject 19 is a middle aged African American man. Born in Georgia by Cindy and Daniel Williams. Moussa M. Williams grew up in a lower-middle class family that had previously shown no history of violence.

 

His parents showed no history of violence. Moussa is another story.

 

At the age of 15, his parents would die in a highway bus accident that would reach nation wide news. The foster system goes to him, looks for him, but the child of Cindy and Daniel Williams is gone before they can even arrive. Nothing left the house according to police evidence, only a photograph was missing and a possible gun according to the records. Moussa doesn't pop up again in eight long years.

 

At the age of twenty three, Moussa is arrested at a bar in Atlanta. Underground evidence shows that for the past seven years he was cage fighting for a living. Cage fighting amongst other more- _illegal_ activities. Theft is the most common one, followed by bar fights resolved in the other parties severe injuries. He is a product of his loss and he cleans himself up in the years that follow.

 

His wife is a police officer and they live with her grandmother.

 

Then Abstergo comes for him, and McGowen is tasked with taking away the physical evidence of Moussa William's existence. Photos, records, and two corpses. He shows nothing when Sophia ask how things went. He knows what he has done and he knows what Sophia has done too. But at least he thinks of these blood stained hands. His boss has the mentality of a saint and the ego of Apollo himself. McGowen doubts that she cares.

 

When they place Moussa into the Animus they are greeted by his ancestor, his past life. A former slave turned Assassin turned Templar. A witch doctor with a rather supernatural ability for voodoo.  _Baptiste._

 

The Bleeding Effect fixes the aftermath of the regression by doing its very nature. The Animus destroys you neurologically, clawing at you until you _remember._

 

_Moussa is in a state of trauma after everything, but Baptiste takes care of him. Whether if it is a good thing or not is unknown._

* * *

Subject 20 is a woman from China. Her name is Michelle Lin, and just as before her parents showed no true history of violence.

 

At the age of twenty, Lin begins working for The Ministry of State Security. The intelligence agency and security agency of the People's Republic of China, responsible for counter-intelligence, foreign intelligence and political security. Rising through the ranks at a steady pace, no doubt she will make history some day.

It makes what Sophia wishes to do a risk. A very high risk, one that could catch the attention of the Chinese government, so Sophia tells him to wait for the perfect oppertunity.

 

At the age of twenty four, Lin becomes pregnant with twins whilst going through a rocky divorce with her husband. When she returns from maturnity leave nine months later Abstergo takes her. McGowen makes the choice to not tell Sophia of the twins. Human experimentation on adults is one thing, but he would not put it last her to do the same with newborns.

 

Lin has an ancestor named Shao Jun. An Assassin from 16th Century, China. Once a concubine for the emperor, Jun ended up going down the path of the Assassins in return for them offering her freedom. It is interesting to see what had once been just a study on the Brotherhood and Order that had been active in China turns into something more. Shao had come into contact with a precursor- _Sophia wants it._

 

_At the end of the day Lin as Shao and Lin has Moussa. They won't be alone for long though. Sophia already has another target for him to hunt._

* * *

 

Her name is Valéria Oeil de l'aigle and she is the biggest risk of them all.

 

The daughter of an old money family in France, Valéria went to the United States of America at the age of nineteen. She went to a Boston College, the Boston Eagles to be exact, and McGowen sees a bright young woman in the schools records. Captain of the Women's rugby team, a member of the orchestra with the talent of a protege with the chello, violin, and piano. As well as a rather skillfull ribbon dancer and kick boxer. A person with determination in the arts that would one day be channelled elsewhere.

 

For at the age of twenty four, Valéria becomes a member of the French Parliment. Being the French Prime Minister and President of the Senate, it makes her the most politically powerful descendant that Abstergo has ever taken. The amount of caution needed in faking her death takes months, but Sophia is practiclly obsessed with this one. 

It doesn't help that she has a daughter, another descendant, named Lara. A child that McGowen couldn't hide away from the Rikkins.

 

They get her, fake her death, creating a powerful blow in the French government that causes everyone involved to hold their breath.  _However like all things it rolls over._

 

Valéria has her first regression as her ancestor, her past life, an Assassin from the Spanish Inquisition.  _Maria de Al-Andalucia._ It is with her that they discover the Apple of Eden, but Maria is a dead end. Though not a waste, for Maria had an ancestor from Masyaf, and her own descendants went through two and a half centuries as Templar Grandmasters in the French Rite. Followed by Élise de la Serres descendants, Assassins during the Victorian Era, all leading down to Valéria and her daughter Lara.

 

_He tries to ignore the memories that follow his first meeting with Valéria. He remembers her, and she remembers him. A secret that he will now take to his grave as his ancestor had done, but not all things can be hidden._

* * *

 

_They share an Animus together after that. It changes his outlook on these test subjects._

* * *

The next descendant, Subject 23, is the younger son of Alan Rikkin, half brother to Sophia. His name is Jason Rikkin and he is placed within the Animus as a child. 

 

It is possibly the only thing that McGowen ever fully disagreed with, but he is stoic and silent in the eyes of his boss. 

 

Jason Rikkin is placed within the Animus with Lara as time goes by. Children who become teens within the facility, or at least Jason does before Lara. There is a five year age gap between the two, which doesn't make this any better. It does not justify Sophia's actions.

 

Jason shares a bloodline with Valéria and Lara. His ancestor, who he once was, the one who made him who he is, is a man from the Victorian Era. An Assassin who ran a syndicate. Jacob Frye. Lara sychronizes with Evie Frye; whose blue eyes match that of her ancestors before her and t hey find the descendant of Henry Green in India, an older woman named Aleera.

 

Together they liberate London within the 15th Century place of worship that was transformed into the Abstergo Foundation. 

 

However, one day a bloode vessle burst within her brain, a product of her synchronization rates not matching with her partners, and Aleera bleeds to death whilst in the Animus.

 

_The two of them are never the same again after that, but they learn to be stronger together through their loss._

_McGowen watches on with a frown on his face that Sophia doesn't catch. Perhaps she forgets that she had placed him within the Animus with someone. Either way, the Head of Security doesn't wish to think of what it would have felt like if Valéria had died._

* * *

The next test subject is slightly older than Jason when they take him from the streets.

 

There is no last name, no parents or living relatives. Only a kid with anger issues, a cussing habit, and a snarky attitude. His name is Nathan, and McGowen is not surprised when Moussa takes him in like one does a stray kitten.

 

His ancestor is named Duncan Walpole. An Assassin turned Templar who was killed by a pirate. The man has knowledge that Sophia wants, but his life his rather short lived and it is for that that McGowen is greatful.

_Watching regressions can change someone, and Duncan Walpole is no different._

* * *

The Subject taken after Nathan is a native from Poland who was discovered by Abstergo in Sweden. 

 

At the age of thirty, Emir falls into Abstergo's radar when he steals from their pharmacutical end in Sweden. What he was after is unknown, but medicine was taken and it was never found. Perhaps it shouldn't matter to anyone about why he did it, but not long after the last relative of Emir is said to have died in the local paper. _Cancer._

 

 According to his research, Emir began to garden for his last remaining relative during her final years. During that time Emir has grown a talent for gardening even though he is a rather imposing man, and for that the descendants get a garden area added to the Commons area. But his gardening abilities is not what Sophia wants no, it is his memories.

 

His ancestor is the mentor of the Assassins of the Ottoman Empire, a man named Yusuf Tazim. Sophia wants his knowledge, the pieces of eden he came into contact with, and the memories that contained Ezio Auditore.

 

_Not even Yusuf can light Emir up after a week of regressions, and it seems rather odd to see a descendant not fall into their ancestors influence. Then again there is Nathan, and the aggressive brit is able to get more out of Emir than anyone else._

* * *

_McGowen tries to feel of his own ancestors influence, but the Spaniard only reacts when Valéria is around._

* * *

_His ancestor doesn't even speak to him again until Callum Lynch comes onto Abstergo's radar. The man resembles Aguilar de Nerha far too much._

* * *

Throughout the years many descendants have stayed within the white pristine walls of Abstergo.

 

One hundred and fifty-seven to be exact.

 

Seventy nine of them are active subjects.

 

Twenty four are unactive and being cared for daily. 

 

The rest are dead.

 

McGowen has captured all of them, making sure none escape, as for which that is his job. However, he himself is one of those subjects and he remembers the lives of Aguilar de Nerha and Maria de Al-Andalucia.

 

_He hunted them down after all._

 

And it is for these things-these little things-that cause him to admire the Assassins.

 

He admires the Templars, too.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is based upon the theory that McGowen is a descendant. I personally, fall into the ones who believe that he is the descendant of Ojeda, but I have heard of some who believe him to be a descendant of Shay Cormac. 
> 
> In the long run, why not both?
> 
> On another note, I wanted to show that Abstergo would take anyone no matter their back ground or profession, so I hope that I expressed that well enough.


End file.
